Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Welcome blog hoppers!Today the Ruby Rock-It and Daring Cardmakers teams are uniting to showcase some of the lovely crafting goodies that Ruby Rock-It have out nowSo you can sit, relax, and hop through the blogs of
our Creative Team members as we show you what we have been creating!
(And then make your shopping list...)

You should have come here from Erin and then move on to PattieIf you get lost then hop back to the Daring Cardmaker blog where the full list will put you straightAnd hopping comes with a reward - leave a comment for each of
our fabulous designers along the way, and be sure to leave one on your
last stop, the Ruby Rock-it blog! Everyone that follows until the end, leaving your sweet sentiments along the way, will be entered to win a
fabulous prize from Ruby Rock-it, to be announced in the first week of
September
That's all the words - here is the picture.It is just a bit pink....

Yes, I have some Picked Rasberry Distress Ink and Spray and I know how to use them (kind of)I love the bright pink sparkles of the Ruby Rock-It glitter paper and decided to mimic it by spraying some Ruby Rock-It paper flowers with pink spray. I also coloured another flower with Heidi Swapp Tinsel mist (NB the pink remains wet for a long time so best to leave overnight so that you don't transfer any pink to your silver flower even when they seem dry. As I might have discovered when it was all stuck down...)I coloured the edges of some white cardstock with the Distress Ink and then stuck all my layers together. A Ruby Rock-It wooden arrow also had the same ink treatment. Finally I used some Ruby Rock-It letter stickers and a sentiment which I cut around and then outlined with black sharpie.Enjoy the rest of the hop and don't forget to comment :)

Sunday, August 23, 2015

My mum and dad are staying with me" as Sister Sledge didn't sing.Also my son's partner is staying for the moment so we have had 8 adults in the house for a week.Fortunately the hours that everyone is up at the same time are not as many as in "normal" households so we have been able to cope!

Mum and Dad came to celebrate Dad's birthday - cue a birthday meal at Prezzos for 8 on one day; crab sandwiches on Brixham harbour and pan fried fresh fish in the evening the next (Phil does an awesome job with fish!); finished off with the best carvery in the world from the Parkers Arms (high praise from a vegetarian) on day three - it was more of a birth-weekend really!

His birthday is a week apart from number 1 son ... all of which led to my Daring Challenge this week and another cheesy 80's pop number Let's Here it for the Boy(s)I went for an old classic from me - something bright with stars on!

I received a new set of Dienamics dies this week and used loads of them on this card along with Echo Park I love sunshine papers. The "birthday" die is from Clearly Besotted and the "Happy" stickers came from the Ruby Rockit goodies I was sent recently. The team have been fabulously inventive so do have a look at the blog.

Next week will be completely different as I am on study leave and am going to a retreat place with Phil where they look after Ministers really well....but there is no phone signal and no internet so I will be bereft! But it does me good... and just two people to cater for instead of 8. How will we manage?

Monday, August 17, 2015

being terribly British, please allow me a moan about the weather! Today it is lovely in Torquay (slightly marred by the sound of heavy machinery outside the window but heigh ho). But other days it has been torrential rain and practically dark at 4. I wouldn't mind so much were it not for the fact that it makes photographing things quite challenging!Yesterday afternoon it was a bit brighter so I reshot my Daring card for this week. It isn't that easy to capture anyway as it has some VERY shiny elements to it. Kathy asked us to talk texture and get all touchy feely.I dug through my drawers to find some of the materials that I used when I was dabbling in creative textiles and came up with some muslin, some builders scrim and angelina fibres (bright bits of "stuff" that you fuse together using a hot iron) and this is the result...

It was all backed with that sort of paper that was all the rage when I began cardmaking which must be about 12 years ago now. You wet the edges to get it into a rough shape. But I can't remember what it is called at all! Can anyone help?The scrim and muslin were sprayed with various tones of pink and purple mist and left to dry. I then got out the ironing board, the iron and some greaseproof paper in order to work on the angelina fibres. It is such a long time since I used them and some I didn't really iron enough which made die cutting a bit more difficult.The thin metal die I used from the leaves by Clearly Besotted, didn't really like the fibres much so I had to use scissors as well. The other dies are large red Sizzix ones and they had no problems at all!I then used double sided tape to stick everything down a bit randomly on top of each other.I found a banner die cut on my desk (as you do) and stamped a Clearly Besotted sentiment in a toning ink and nestled it in amongst the flowers. The last touch (as it were) are some hard glass dew drops, which give a different kind of texture.The new Quirky Kits are out this week and my first page is up on the blogDetails are there but here is a sneaky peek

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

I actually have something to share that is not a Daring card or a Quirky Kits layout (most of my layouts tend to be for this awesome kit club and you can see them here or buy the kits from here)I have been itching to start documenting this years summer holiday so have made a start with two layouts.

This actually comes right at the end of the holiday so I will need to stick it near the back of the album for now. I was suffering from toothache so didn't have a meal out with everyone else (sad face) but they took ketchup and wine in real glasses to have chips on the quayside. Very refined!The inspiration for the layout comes from Victoria Marie - after I watched this Youtube vid - not hugely the same but that is where the photo placement comes fromAs it happens almost all the papers are from old Quirky Kits apart from the diagonal stripe which is Crate Paper. I think all the embellishments are from old Kits as well. Leo has started putting the embellishment kits in handy see through pouches and I try to stick all the old embellishments in there as my first go to place for finishing touches. Feel free to play spot the kit!Quite a lot is from the last one as there was quite a foodie theme but the stars, brads, hearts and arrows go back further.I did lots of outlining as is my wont. I am such a huge fan of stark black and white with lots of colour in between and I can't see that changing any time soon. It was only when I finished the page that I felt it had too much white space so I added in the yellow splotches with a Tim Holtx stencil and two yellow distress inks. It meant I could also make "mushy" look a little more like the actual peas (bleurgh, I am not a fan)Here are some close ups

lots of layers

finally using little cut apart cards! (I don't know why I find them difficult and always feel ridiculously excited when I put one on a layout!)

Cute little brad...The second layout is based on an old sketch from Sketchnscrap, as I have been feeling that my layouts are a bit samey at the moment - although as usual it ended up quite different from the sketch - probably because of the orientation of my photos

I wanted to add something down the right hand side but not too dark so pulled out an old Hambly transparency. I have a few of these hoarded and really ought to use them! Almost all the rest of the papers are from a 6x6 pad - the Simple Stories Say Cheese 2. The pale blue honeycomb is from 24seven by the same company. As well as diving into my Quirky folder I went right back through my stuff and unearthed some Fancy Pants stickers, Basic Grey alphas and those metal diamonds - I have a whole bunch of those tags and really must use a few more!

The gold and red embellishments are from Crate Paper Poolside

I added a black outline and some Wink of Stella pen to the heart on this cut apart paper

My camera didn't like the mix of the transparency, the colours and the journalling (most of which is on top of gesso) so here is a close up

(a bit bright cos it was still hard to get in focus this grey morning)

I'm hoping to squeeze in a bit more crafty time this week, although there is a lot of work to be got through as well :)

Saturday, August 08, 2015

My last blog title - "Its me age" has spawned more spam comments than any other I've posted! Mostly for things due to, yes, age. Well I am not having eye surgery or taking any more pills than I have to thank you very much :) Its been a tough week for me - and more so for the families of two dear people from one of my Churches. One died as the result of a tragic accident and the other quite suddenly after a long illness and both are very much missed by me and the community.One funeral has happened and there is one to come - times of sorrow in loss but also celebrations of lives well lived.All of which hasn't really left any time (or inclination) to craft. But I did manage my Daring Card for this week - its another Elemental Inspiration one as yet another month has come round!Here is the picture we were given as a challenge by Svenja.

Initially I panicked! But by the time I finished I had used more elements than I think I have ever done before for one of these cards - even though my card still looks pretty simple

I took the blue and red from the right hand wall and the red box; I used a due cut heart from woodgrain paper and another wooden element; I took the two cicles from the poster on the right hand wall; the wooden arrow represents all the other wood; the "with" sentiment was embossed to look a little like the drawers with words on. And finally near the red box on the photo are two streams of shiny things (probably coins) which reminded me of the sequins that were on my desk for some reason - so they were featured as well.The papers are mostly Fancy Pants from different collections and the die cut is a Clearly Besotted shaker die - I cut around the outside.This picture has created all sorts of different looks by the designers so do go and see - and we have a fabulous guest at the moment as well - Carol Plume. Carol it is great to have you with us.